by Adi Joseph, USA TODAY Sports

by Adi Joseph, USA TODAY Sports

LeBron James demands perfection from himself. He demands perfection from his teammates.

Now the Miami Heat forward demands perfection from his fans.

When a ball caromed into the AmericanAirlines Arena crowd during Friday's 111-89 home victory against the Los Angeles Clippers, James walked over to the sidelines to get the ball. He gestured for the fan who had it to pass it to him. The fan, wearing James' No. 6 jersey, tossed him a lob.

Not good enough, son.

James used an NBA-level chest pass to fire the ball back to the fan, who seemed befuddled that the NBA MVP was playing catch with him. But James made his intention clear: He's not going to take that soft pass.

The fan manned up, thankfully. That could have gone on all night.

ESPN later interviewed the fan, a man named Adolpho, who apparently lives a pretty awesome life. He went to the Super Bowl earlier this month, and before the game he got a shot in with ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy.

So we can't blame him for thinking he was getting a free basketball.

"I wanted to keep the ball," Adolpho told ESPN's Lisa Salters. "I thought the ball was mine. When he threw it back to me, I thought he was giving it back to me.

"This is the most exciting thing I ever lived in my life."

James, who finished with 30 points, took the halftime interview with ESPN before going into the locker room. He had 15 points on 6-for-6 shooting while the Heat led 62-50, so he already was in a good mood when asked about the passes with the fan.

Salters: What was up with you playing catch with the fan in the stands?

James: I just wanted to show my appreciation to the fans that we have here. They've been great all night

Salters: Jeff Van Gundy wants to know - this what he's been dying to find out - would you have made that guy's night and would you have had so much fun with him had he been wearing a Dwyane Wade jersey?

James, laughing: Uh, it might have been 75% love.

Salters: Did that factor in?

James, still laughing: I didn't even notice which jersey he had on. I know he had a Heat jersey on.